The authors describe how an emergent teacher overcame her first-year teaching challenges in reading aloud to preschoolers and explored and adopted reading support strategies to provide equitable and engaging reading experiences for all.

Hiring practitioners as faculty is not a novel practice in higher education. In their decision to shift from the private sector to the classroom, many practitioners enter the professoriate with little to no formal training in pedagogy. The question for faculty developers is how might Teaching and Learning Centers (TLCs) bridge this gap from…

My case study focuses on the career development of students and academics in higher education, specifically early-career and teaching-focused staff. We are all navigating the dynamic and extremely competitive landscapes of higher education and job markets, and in this case study I detail my approach to creating 1) pathways supporting student…

Teachers face many challenges in the first years of their careers. Without support and guidance from experienced, highly qualified teacher mentors, the demands of the classroom can overwhelm novice teachers. It comes as no surprise that one-third of teachers leave the profession within their first five years. This policy update draws on research,…

Early career academics (ECAs) face multiple academic challenges as many assume their duties with little or no experience of the work employed. Formal organizational structures within the university space may set programs to assimilate and assert them into their responsibilities gradually. However, where do ECAs retreat to when the hierarchical and…

Communities of Practice are an increasingly common tool used to support novice academics in higher education settings. Initiated in 2015 at a Western Australian University, TLABs is an acronym for 'Teaching and Learning for Level A and B' academic staff and was designed to build a community of practice to mentor junior academics; help them develop…

Intentional, individualized instructional coaching, combined with interactions that benefit the teacher in context, position a new teacher for long-term success.

How do faculty developers orient their new faculty to the available university services, networking opportunities, and the requirements for teaching, research, and service? What examples exist to help faculty developers facilitate professional development opportunities in convenient and flexible learning environments? After the traditional…

An estimated 17% to 30% of new teachers in the U.S. leave the profession within their first 5 years of teaching. Some challenges that prompt new teachers to leave the field include stress, lack of appropriate support, and feeling unprepared to handle behavioral and academic issues among their students. Research supports the finding that teachers…

Rural school districts throughout the country face increasing challenges with recruiting and retaining beginning teachers due to job demands that include a lack of mentoring, lower salaries than their urban and suburban counterparts, geographic isolation, requirements to take on additional nonteaching duties, and teaching assignments that include…

This conceptual essay draws on the advice for actors offered by David Mamet and Sanford Meisner in order to highlight how uncertainty is a dilemmatic feature of both acting and teaching. This essay argues that perhaps the only way to prepare for uncertainty (either on the stage or in the classroom) is to be open to uncertainty and to be willing to…

When there's a revolving door of staff members in a school or district, leaders have three choices: leave, survive, or thrive. District administrator Elizabeth Dampf says it's possible to thrive despite--or even because of--high rates of turnover. If you want more out of this period in education, take a few cues from Dampf's "playbook of…

Being a subject matter expert does not make someone a good ins­tru­ctor. Most institutions do little to prepare first-time instructors. The Marine Corps puts new instructors of graduate-level programs through a rigorous 4-week program to prepare them as first-time instructors. They are exposed to adult learning theory, assessment processes, and…

The research on mentorship in the professoriate is extensive and substantial. New faculty benefit from having sustained and focused interactions with a more knowledgeable other who is able to shepherd them through the induction phase of their academic career. Professional support, collaboration, and sponsorship have always been critical, but this…

Like many districts across the U.S., Miami-Dade County Public Schools is experiencing a large number of open staff positions due to higher-than-normal numbers of retirements and resignations in the face of COVID-19 coupled with enrollment declines in local universities' education departments. The district, in partnership with New Teacher Center,…